Valentine Mishka

Artist Tube by Lady Mishka available at PicsForDesign 

FTU Scrap kit by Lynx The Minx

called 'Valentine Love'

Thank you ♥

Animation 253 by Simone of Scrappy Bit of Fun

SC_Mask04 by Sylvie of SyllyCreations

Christmas Gradient by Tonya's Temptations

I believe I used TBT Christmas Bells 16

but any pinkish hue gradient will do.

Plugin: Tronds ~ Checker 1

Font Baiskey

Let's go...

1. Open new transparent image 725 x 700 px

Flood Fill white

Add new raster layer, make your own gradient with two pink colours

or use #d8365f  Fg /#effcfd8 Bg

select gradient 45 degrees, no repeats

Flood fill the layer & apply the mask.

Resize the masked layer 95%.

Duplicate ~ change blend mode of copy to 'screen'

Select original mask layer

Select All ~ float, defloat

Apply Fronds plugin ~ Checker 1

Deselect.

*If you don't have the plugin,

I enclosed the checkered mask for you.

Just click on it, then save.

2. Open frame04, resize to 600 px

C/P above masked layers

Duplicate ~ change top copy to 'screen'

D/S original frame 2/2/25/7 black

Open elem 12, C/P above all layers

Using magic wand, add mode, RGB value, tolerance 10, feather 0

click on left black area of frame

add a new raster layer

I filled this layer with one of Tonya's gradients.

d/s

Click with magic wand on right black area, add new raster layer

and fill with the same gradient. d/s

Resize both of these gradient layers 101% 

to eliminate any black showing on edges.

Open elem 11 and C/P over Right Gradient layer we just created.

Note:  This element has a stray rectangular pixel border.

Erase this border with your eraser tool before proceeding further.

Duplicate this cupid, change blend mode to top copy as 'screen'

Repeat cupid for Left side of gradient, mirroring the cupid.

Duplicate ~ set mode to 'screen'

Open elem 21 ~ 50%

C/P behind cupid on left and duplicate

Place beneath cupid on right.

3. Open main tube, resize to 360 px wide C/P

Duplicate ~ on original tube, add gaussian blur of 2

Merge these two tube layers

Sharpen with unsharp mask 1, 40, 4, luminance checked.

4. Add other elements of choice:

Elem 3 ~ 40%

Elem 44 ~ 35%

Elem 19 ~ 25%

Elem 17 ~ 38%

I added a 3 px white border around the XOXO

selection float, defloat, expand by 3 px, add new raster layer,

fill with white, move below XOXO, d/s

Merge both XOXO and white layer together. D/S

Elem 14 ~ 35%, duplicate & arrange

Elem 27 ~ 40%

Elem 42 ~ 75%

Dropshadow elements of choice

Note: any elements on outer edge of tag

should have a minimal or no dropshadow 

This should help to minimize the graininess of the animation in A/S.

4.  Resize image if you wish

Add copyright, URL, watermark & name

Delete white bg layer, merge visible, crop ~ merged opaque

and save as a PNG.

To Animate:

Unmerge the layers in PSP

Open animation 253 by Simone in A/S

Note:  it has 16 frames. Select all ~ resize animation 75%

Back to PSP

close white bg layer on bottom

add a blank raster layer above it (leave blank)

Beginning on very top layer of layers palette, 

close the following layers:

copyright, 

sparkles,

teddybear,

main tube

cupcake

& two racoons.

Select the blank raster layer we created earlier

Edit copy special ~ copy merged

Paste as new animation in A/S

Duplicate this frame to a total of 16 frames.

Edit select all ~ propagate paste

Open 253 heart animation, select first frame ~ select all, select copy

Drag first frame of heart animation 

on first frame of working PSP image.

Placing the animation on left side overtop cupid.

View animation to check placement.

If not desirable, undo and try again.

On 253 Animation, select all ~ mirror the animation

Select copy

Drag first frame of heart animation overtop

main tag, on top of cupid seen on right

View animation. Undo if needed.

Back to PSP

unhide all the top layers that were hidden.

Hide the bottom layers below the cupcake & two racoons

Do not hide the blank raster layer on the very bottom

Select the blank raster layer

Edit Special ~ copy merged

Paste in A/S as a new animation.

Duplicate to equal 16 frames. Select all. Copy

Drag first frame of this animation

over top first frame of main tag

animation, placing main tube in center of tag.

View animation, if happy

save this as a MNG file into your blank PSP folder

Doing so does not optomize the animation

and works great for adding names in future.

You may add a white bg in A/S using animation properties.

Select colour white to match most forum backgrounds.

Then optomize.

If you wish to animate without a white bg,

use optomize median cut, 255 colours,

Partial transparency set to 90, and select 'yes' colour to blend with 'white'

View animation for graininess.

If too grainy, try selecting optomized octree instead.

Always view your animation before saving as a gif.

Don't forget to add your name before saving in A/S

I hope you enjoy your animated creation.

I'd love to see your results.

♥